Nestling in
northern Hampshire, the London overspill new town of Basingstoke seems an
unlikely place for competitive bus practices. Yet this is the
place where local operator Countywide has challenged the might of
Stagecoach Hampshire on a local service to Popley. They claim
to offer a service to the rail station (above) rather than only to
the bus station (right). The response by Stagecoach has
been to introduce a new service from Fleet to neighbouring Reading (below
left) which runs a few minutes in front of the Hampshire County
Council funded service operated by Countywide (below right).
A storm in a teacup or a ripple in a tumbler ? Only time will
tell.

Although Reading
is bounded by Stagecoach on three sides, remarkably they have almost never
operated in the town, apart from a Sunday tender to Basingstoke in the mid
1990's (far left). Countywide were awarded the route to
Aldershot after Tillingbourne (left) ceased trading a couple of
years ago.

A new shopping centre
called Festival Place recently opened in Basingstoke (the Cumernauld
of the south). However this does still not prevent the
smell of swimming pool permeating throughout the town.http://www.festivalplace.co.uk/